A series of firsts for the Northern Chill boys2018-11-25by Randy Pascal

It was a series of historic club firsts as the Northern Chill 14U Boys took to the court, last weekend, at Georgian College. In becoming
the first ever male crew to representing the Chill organization, the 14U lads would follow-up their inaugural OVA serve from James Welsh with a
ground-breaking set win in game three against the Georgetown Impact (13U).

Two matches later, it was time to celebrate their first victory in OVA competition, closing out the single day tournament with a three set triumph over
the Oakville Thunder (13U). While there is obviously still plenty of work to be done, the local team did not look the least bit out of place on the
bigger stage that is provincial competition.

The Chill dropped their opening match to the Milton Edge (6-25, 12-25), but would see the understandable nervousness dissipate as they lost to
Pakmen – Black from Mississauga, 20-25, 14-25, in much closer encounters. The first breakthrough would come as the Sudbury boys earned a split
against Georgetown, dropping the first set 19-25 but bouncing back to register a 25-15 triumph.

That was enough to settle the northern squad into third place in the pool, facing a cross-over match against second place in Pool “A”. A tough 5-25,
14-25 setback to the bronze medal winning Leaside Thunder would give way to another show of resilience, as the Chill left Barrie on a winning note,
outlasting the Oakville Thunder 25-20, 17-25, 15-11.

“This is no ordinary (14U) team, with the youngest player just 11 years old and in grade six, and the others spread between grades seven, eight and
nine,” noted head coach Bryan Welsh. “We've been working on getting this team up and running for two years now.”